Remembering Sodor's Past
by bbll22
Summary: An old photo in the Bus Depot triggers a story about tougher times on Sodor with different engines in charge and different buses and a different man in charge. The story was never going to be easy to tell, but will anyone have a happy ending?


Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

**Remembering Sodor's Past**

One morning in the Bus Depot, Bertie, Agnes and Cordelia had just woken up. They still had plenty of time before their duties began so they just chatted to pass the time. Bertie then noticed that on one of the walls in the depot was a picture of two buses and a man who looked like the Fat Controller.

"Who are those buses?" asked Bertie. Agnes and Cordelia looked at the photo, but didn't know. "I'll have to ask driver..." added Bertie. His driver soon came into the depot with a cup of tea in one hand and whistling a memorable tune as he went along.

"How are you all, then?" he asked to everyone.

"Fine" replied Bertie on everyone's behalf. "But one thing is bothering us..."

"What's that then?" queried his driver.

"Who are those buses in that photo with the Fat Controller?" Bertie then replied.

"Oh...that's not the Fat Controller..." he replied. "That's his father, and those buses were called Joan and Shaun. They were very good workers here and were much liked."

"What happened to them?" asked Cordelia.

"Please do tell!" added Agnes

"If I must..." replied Bertie's driver. He then began to tell the story...

"It was a long time ago on Sodor when Duke was still around bossing Peter Sam and Sir Handel when they were called Stuart and Falcon. It was so long ago that the Fat Controller wasn't in charge."

"Why wasn't he in charge?" interrupted Bertie.

"His father was" continued his driver "The Fat Controller drove lorries at this point in time. Occasionally, he helped out at the old Sodor Haulage Firm, but mainly he drove Elizabeth the Sentinal Lorry. They were inseparable at times. Now, at this time buses were only just becoming commonplace, so the Fat Controller's father bought in two of them. Joan was a light green bus who was extremely kind and was."

"Oh, just like me!" interrupted Agnes. Cordelia smirked at this, and then Bertie's driver continued.

"Then there was Shaun, a light blue bus who could not tolerate being late at all. He kept the time like no-one else, it was extraordinary! Both of them enjoyed working together and for many years did service wonderfully. The Fat Controller's father was very proud of them indeed, but..."

"But what?" exclaimed Bertie. Agnes and Cordelia then told Bertie to stay quiet and just listen.

"Money was sparse, the Railway and all of Sodor was in trouble. New engines were just arriving to replace the old, worn out ones, and this was a tough time indeed." Bertie's driver then stopped all of a sudden and looked at another picture. This picture featured 4 engines, two were tender engines, one was a tank engine and the other was a tram engine. He picked up the picture, sighed and made his way back to where he just was. "These are those old engines..." he then continued. "This one here, was Nigel, he was an enormous black tender engine who was incredibly trustworthy. Next to him is Morris, the tank engine. His dark red paint made him look evil, but he was nothing of the sort. Then there was Tim, the other tender engine. He was dark green, he was very proud and immensely boastful."

"That's reminds me of someone!" joked Bertie. His driver laughed.

"Well it was Gordon that replaced him. Henry replaced Nigel, Thomas replaced Morris...and then the final engine, the Tram engine, Imelda was never really replaced. She was taken too soon for everyone on Sodor, but she made a great impact in that short amount of time."

"What happened to her?" asked Cordelia

"Well...she was traveling too fast down a line with her coach Arnold in tow. She didn't know that the line up ahead had buckled, so when she came across it, she fell, fell off the line and into a ravine. She was recovered, but it was too late. Arnold was later scrapped that year, so atleast they met up again somewhere." This story particularly upset everyone in the depot, even Bertie's driver. He then left for another cup of tea while the buses were left to mull over the story so far...

He came back after a little break and sat down once again, however he noticed both Agnes and Cordelia had been crying. Obviously the story of Imelda was too much for them, so he decided to move the story back onto Joan and Shaun, but it wasn't the happiest story he could tell about them.

"As we already know, money wasn't vastly spare on Sodor at this current time, the old engines had been replaced, and sadly they were scrapped, but money still wasn't there so the Fat Controller's father had to seriously consider whether the newly-launched Bus service should remain. He decided in the end that it shouldn't continue, so both Joan and Shaun were now up for sale."

"Oh dear..." said Agnes.

"Indeed..." agreed Bertie's driver. "Businessmen soon came and looked very interested in buying Joan and Shaun, but none of them wanted to buy them both. The Fat Controller's father didn't want to split them apart and the decision was tough, but eventually one man came and bought them both."

"Good to hear..." said Bertie, the others agreed.

"They soon left..." continued Bertie's driver. "...but money still wasn't there. This is eventually why Duke's old railway closed and then why he was kept in that shed for all those years. It affected everywhere, but no-one forgets about it. Joan and Shaun eventually came back and visited but their friend they knew then had gone. There was no Nigel, no Morris, no Tim, no Imelda, there was just Gordon, Henry, Thomas and a new red engine called James. They'd lost everything, Joan was good friends with Trevor the Traction Engine, but when she returned, he'd been put up for scrap. They left and they never returned." Again Bertie's driver fell silent as did everyone else in the depot. He got once again, put the picture of the engines back and then looked at the photo of the Joan, Shaun and the Fat Controller's father. He smiled and then noticed the time.

"Oh, we best get ready Bertie! It's time for our shift!" He soon got in Bertie, waved at Agnes and Cordelia and then made their way.

The end of the working day then came and Bertie, Agnes and Cordelia's returned to the depot. Again to pass the time, they just chatted about their days work and the story Bertie's driver had told them. Then all of a sudden, the depot door opened and in came the Fat Controller. He was smiling widely, a bit too widely compared to normal.

"Bertie, Agnes and Cordelia...I thank you for letting that story be told again. Bertie, your driver just told me how you three reacted to it, and because of the link you found and connected with everyone from that time, I am commissioning two plaques to be made. One for Joan and Shaun that will stand proudly outside the depot with a copy of that photo on the wall, and another one for the four, original engines under my Father's leadership. Nigel, Morris, Tim and Imelda will never be forgotten thanks to you three and your driver, Bertie." The three of them just smiled with delight and as night reigned in, the Fat Controller sat down with a scrapbook he'd brought with him and told the stories of Sodor to them. That way, nothing will ever be forgotten as everyone was remembering Sodor's past.


End file.
